Chapter 72: The Next Two Big Money-Making Plans

Both men harbored their own agendas and plotted against each other.

For Khalil Centurion, granting Lin Haoran the title of vice chairman was merely a temporary expedient. He was scheming in his heart how to gradually strip away Lin's actual power and ultimately mold him into a figurehead devoid of real authority. Want to learn the true essence of business from me? I'm afraid it will only end up being a joyous disappointment.

As for Lin Haoran, infiltrating the upper echelons of Green Island Cement was the crucial first step.

"Mr. Khalil, may I take a tour of the company?" Lin Haoran asked with a smile.

"Of course. Mr. Lin is now a major shareholder of Green Island Cement. Although you do not hold any official position for the time being, you can still be considered one of the owners of Green Island Cement. Touring the company is your right. However, I do have some urgent matters to attend to at hand, so I'm afraid I won't be able to accompany you personally. Please rest assured, though, that I will arrange for a colleague who is familiar with the company's operations to guide you through a comprehensive understanding of our enterprise." Khalil Centurion replied with both propriety and thorough consideration.

"Then I shall trouble Mr. Khalil." Lin Haoran responded mildly.

A dozen minutes later, a capable-looking Westerner in his mid-thirties stepped into Khalil Centurion's office. From the composure and competence revealed in his eyes, it was not hard to guess that he was a capable aide or trusted confidant of Khalil.

"Mr. Lin, please allow me to guide you on the tour." He politely extended his hand, signaling Lin Haoran to follow.

"Thank you very much, I'll be counting on you." Lin Haoran nodded in response, and the two of them left the chairman's office one after the other, taking the elevator out of the Green Island Building.

The scale of Green Island Cement's headquarters was grand and left a deep impression on Lin Haoran.

Aside from three commercial buildings standing over a dozen stories high, it also extended into a vast production plant area, interspersed with orderly warehouses and a busy pier, which together constituted the headquarters of Green Island Cement.

Accompanied by the Western employee, Lin Haoran shuttled between various zones. The employee's explanations were both professional and detailed, covering everything from the company's historical evolution and core business to its production processes and market layout.

Apart from this headquarters plant, Lin Haoran learned that Green Island Cement had also established a cement packaging and storage warehouse in Kennedy Town on Hong Kong Island West, with the entire cement warehouse completely concealed within a single building.

This detailed explanation allowed Lin Haoran to gain a more comprehensive and in-depth understanding of Green Island Cement in a short period.

As the largest cement manufacturer in the Hong Kong region, Green Island Cement was undoubtedly the industry leader.

With the booming development of Hong Kong's real estate industry, the demand for cement, the core material for infrastructure, surged dramatically. Consequently, the annual production scale of Green Island Cement climbed year by year, reaching a remarkable height.

Judging from the comparison of market scale, the volume of Green Island Cement was undoubtedly a behemoth compared to Wah Fung Cement Factory, with its market share and influence far exceeding the latter by more than ten times.

With such a scale, would its profits be merely double those of Wah Fung Cement Factory?

Lin Haoran was the first person not to believe it.

After all, in the cement industry, production scale is often closely linked to key factors such as bargaining power, cost control, and market share.

With such a massive production scale, Green Island Cement should theoretically be able to secure a more advantageous position in the market, thereby achieving higher profit margins.

Furthermore, Green Island Cement also boasted a superior geographical location in the core of downtown, which brought it unparalleled transportation convenience.

Whether by land or water transportation, it could rapidly and efficiently cover the entire Hong Kong region, greatly reducing logistics costs.

This cost advantage would inevitably add more weight to Green Island Cement's profitability.

Clearly, there were secrets hidden behind this that Lin Haoran was not yet aware of, and the key to all of this obviously lay with the current chairman of Green Island Cement, Khalil Centurion.

Of course, the truth behind this matter would soon come to light.

Prior to today, the shares of Green Island Cement he controlled had already reached 30.7%. Given at most another half a month, the shares he controlled would reach 40%, and by then he would be able to legitimately take over Green Island Cement and become its true helmsman.

And should any dirt on Khalil Centurion be uncovered by him, even if Khalil continued to hold onto his shares, Lin Haoran would still be able to drive him out.

Faced with potential legal sanctions or a voluntary exit from Green Island Cement, any sensible person would surely make the wise choice.

The clamor of the stock market had settled with the closing bell, and under the precise command of Su Zhixue, the Universal trading team had once again reaped a bountiful harvest today, achieving remarkable results.

As night fell, Lin Haoran sat quietly on the sofa in the living room, his deep gaze flashing with strategic planning for the future.

He calculated in his mind that once he successfully gained control of Green Island Cement, this would merely be the starting point of his journey, with an even broader blueprint awaiting his brushstrokes.

Owning just Green Island Cement was, for Lin Haoran, far from the destination; rather, it was the starting point of a new expedition.

He understood that in this late 1970s era full of opportunities, ways to make money were plentiful, but only with substantial capital as a backing could one support the ambition of rapid expansion; otherwise, all grand visions would be castles in the air.

Therefore, how to further accumulate wealth had become his most urgent task at present.

Lin Haoran had already quietly sketched out several blueprints in his mind, each path pointing toward the rapid growth of wealth.

Among them, a seemingly direct and alluring way to make money was to capitalize on the potential surge in gold prices, but Lin Haoran knew very well that the time was not yet ripe.

According to his memories and information from his past life, between 1978 and 1979, a series of international events—such as the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the Iran hostage crisis—led to an escalation of global geopolitical tensions. Coupled with the global economic depression and the widespread high inflation in Western countries, especially vicious inflation in the United States, these factors jointly pushed gold prices into a new round of skyrocketing growth.

What was particularly eye-catching was that in the short span of seven or eight months from May 1979 to January 1980, the price of gold soared like a wild horse off its leash, surging from $250 per ounce to a staggering $850, an increase of as much as 340%.

In contrast, profits in traditional commercial fields were often unable to reach such astonishing speeds, and many large enterprises found it difficult just to avoid losses, let alone achieve returns several times their investment.

Faced with such a golden opportunity, Lin Haoran naturally did not want to miss it, but he also maintained calmness and patience.

The current time was October 1978, and it was still several months away from May 1979, when gold prices would truly erupt.

He knew that although gold prices had shown an upward trend over the past few years, the current increase was relatively moderate. From October 1978 to May 1979, the price of gold would only slowly climb from around $210 per ounce to near $250. For such an increase, positioning oneself seven months in advance was clearly not worthwhile, as the profit and the time cost were disproportionate.

Therefore, Lin Haoran decided to hold his ground and was in no hurry to enter the market at this moment.

Lin Haoran's core objective lay in maximizing the appreciation of the capital in his hands, because in the business world, timing and strategy are equally important.

For instance, he had keenly grasped the gap before Li Ka-shing took action against Green Island Cement, positioning himself in advance and preparing to take control of the company, thereby prompting Li Ka-shing to successfully abandon Green Island Cement.

Lin Haoran's current strength was still insufficient; top-tier British-funded enterprises were beyond his reach, but capturing Green Island Cement as a company was still a very good choice.

In Lin Haoran's view, behind every international crisis lay enormous business opportunities.

These crisis events were like lightning in a storm, providing unprecedented money-making opportunities for the perceptive. The key lay in whether one could prepare before the storm arrived and whether one could act decisively the moment the lightning flashed.

Buy low, sell simple—this seemingly simple four-character mantra actually contained the secrets to success of countless top tycoons.

Among these top tycoons, almost every single one of them possessed a glorious history of accurately bottom-fishing.

It was precisely because Lin Haoran understood this logic that he knew simply doing honest business might achieve a certain level of success, but to rank among the top tycoons, one had to possess extraordinary vision, decisive decision-making, and a precise grasp of market trends. Seizing every bottom-fishing opportunity would make his path of development much smoother.

Currently, aside from keeping a close eye on the potential opportunities in the gold market, Lin Haoran was also brewing a strategy to make quick money: fully capitalizing on the impending outbreak of the second global oil crisis.

Once he successfully resolved the affairs of Green Island Cement, Lin Haoran intended to immediately proceed with implementing his next plan, as he understood that time was not on his abundant side.

According to the information he knew from his past life, the second global oil crisis was about to arrive, and crude oil prices would soar continuously with the outbreak of the Iranian Civil War.

This critical turning point was expected to manifest around the end of the year, roughly in December.

Before this, crude oil prices remained relatively stable, maintaining a level below $13 per barrel.

It was precisely based on this judgment that Lin Haoran decided, upon stabilizing the situation at Green Island Cement, to immediately transition his layout into the petroleum market.

As he was deep in thought, the telephone in his office rang.

Unsurprisingly, the call was from the current chairman of Green Island Cement, Khalil Centurion.

According to him, he had already notified all the important shareholders of Green Island Cement, including five other Englishmen and three Hong Kong Chinese.

These individuals happened to be right in Hong Kong, so holding a board meeting tomorrow posed no problem whatsoever.

The time for the board meeting had also been finalized, set for exactly ten o'clock tomorrow morning.

"Mr. Lin, the board meeting is of great importance, and the time has been set. Please make sure not to be late." Finally, Khalil Centurion specially exhorted Lin Haoran.

"Mr. Khalil, please rest assured, I will attend the meeting on time!" Lin Haoran replied with a smile.